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Cash Lanes Closing on State Road 836

Starting Sunday, State Road 836, also known as the Dolphin Expressway, will close all cash lanes on the NW 17th Avenue Toll Plaza, part of a plan to turn the expressway into an all-electronic tolling system.. Miami-Dade Expressway Authority spokesman Mario Diaz, drivers Alex Aquino and Manny Pujols, and Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, spoke about the change. (Published Friday, July 19, 2013)

Starting Sunday, State Road 836, also known as the Dolphin Expressway, will close all cash lanes on the NW 17th Avenue Toll Plaza.

The change is part of a plan to turn the expressway into an all-electronic tolling system.

The expressway, which will be under construction until the all-electronic system is completed, will stop accepting cash.

“This is all due to the construction and eventually we will turn it to an all-electronic,” said Mario Diaz, spokesman for the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority. “The construction is expected from now until next year.”

Toll Hikes Start Monday

Drivers will be charged electronically via SunPass or they will be charged according to the license plate via the Toll-By-Plate system.

The Toll-By-Plate rates in various Miami-Dade highways are double to what SunPass users pay. On the NW 17th Avenue Toll Plaza, SunPass users pay $1, Toll-By-Plate users will be mailed a $2 fee.

But in June, the expressway authority voted 7-5 in favor of a 70-cent toll fare on the Dolphin and airport expressways. The new, lower fee is expected to begin summer 2014.

The authority estimates the 70-cent fare will drive in $53 million dollars into the agency each year to help fund at least nine projects on the Dolphin Expressway and four other MDX-maintained highways.

With the toll upgrade, there will be at least a dozen toll points along the highways. Officials say the new system will also ease bottlenecking and improve traffic flow on the Dolphin Expressway and on the Airport Expressway, which is also called State Road 112.